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.ioifiN w. oHITTENDEN/AND WILLIAM o. MEAD, or vEvAY, INDIANA.

MACHINE FOR SPLI'ITING HOOPS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,563, dated February 28, 1854-..

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN W. CHITTEN- DEN and WM. C. MEAD, both of Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, have invented a new and useful Machine for Splitting Hoops; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to certain drawings.

The object of our invention is to provide a machine for racking or riving hoops, better and far more expeditiously than is now done, in any manner known.

In the supposed drawings Figure l is a side elevation and Fig. 2 is a plan of our machine.

(a) is a suitable framework.

(b) is a tab wheel operating a trip-hammer (c) by means of the tabs (d). It also by means of pulleys (e f f) and bands (g) actua-tes a pairv of horizontal feed rollers (7L Of these the upper roller (7L) is hung in a sliding frame or gate (7c), to the top of which a cord being attached and carried over a sheave (l) to a treadle (m) the pressure of the foot on the treadle raises the uppermost roller, when it is wanted out of the way, and another'treadle (n) applied to the foot of the gate (7c), gives facility for lowering the said Vroller and for inclosing'i'ts pressure by stress upon the treadle.

(0, p) are two vertical rollers, shown by dotted lines immediately in front of the feed rollers. Of these, the roller (o) is hung in a gate (g), capable of being drawn away from the other roller bythe spring lever (r), by means of which, also the roller can be pushed in again, till the lever, catching over the notch (s) is permanently secured to the inner position, and the lever itself being made broad and thin, serves as a spring to hold the roller to the stuff, The object ofthe vertical rollers, is to assist the feed rollers in holding the bolt or pole square to the work, without canting orV wabbling, and the object of the appliances for. the temporary withdrawal of the rollers, 1s to allow the bolt being turnedv occasionally, with either side up, according to the 4observed tendency of the grain to run out to one side or the other.

(t) is another horizontal roller placed a little in front of the vertical ones, and about on a level with the lower feed roller. This serves as alianvil which supports the part of which, passes the same treadle (n.)L

which is connected to the gate (le), so that l Y when the upper feed roller is lifted, the roller is also lifted, but at other times (u) serves the purpose of holding down the end of the bolt in the bent position which with the blows of the hammer serves to separate the individual strips from each other.

The standard (a) of the hammer, is capable of a slight adjustment towardand from the tab wheel so as to increase or diminsh the range of the hammer, and by consequence the force of the blows, according to the size and nature of the stuff.

-(w) is a break pin which being by means of its handle (H), pushedk under the tail of the hammer stock, suspends for the time i its operation.

The explanation of t-he process should perhaps be premised with the remark that it is very well known to hoop and stave makers, that in the operation of riving timber with the frow or cleaving knife the cleavage has' a slight tendency to run out toward the side away from which the piece Y y is being bent, and this'obliges the frequent turning over of the stuff in order to counteract the irregularity by one of an opposite tendency. Several of the provisions of our machine have reference to this fact.

The operation is as follows: The bolt being got out to the right size, and checked at the end just as it is designed to split, the

checked end is inserted between the feed rollers, and the upper one being brought down hard upon it, it is thereby fed in between the vertical gripping rollers which by the action of theispring lever permits its entry, and at the same time keeps a firm grasp upon it. As soon as the advancing end reaches the anvil roller (t) the hammerV is liberated, and successive beating upon the the bolt into as many uniform strips as there are checks in the end of the bolt. It should be stated however that many pieces have the grain running so much to one side, that by a judicious presentation of the stick it may be put right through Without turning, the racking tendency and that of the grain eX- actly counteracting each other. The usual process of riving timber is a severe and laborious task, so that this is truly a laborsaving machine.

Any good clear rifted hickory, oak, cypress, swamp-ash or other tough cleargrained Wood are suitable for the purpose, and from its entire manageability, much Wood, other-Wise impractible is made available.

We claim herein, and desire to secure by Letters :Pate-nt,V

The feed rollers, the gripping, anvil and bending rollers, or their equivalents ar` 

